Case Number 03204: Small Claims Court

The Jim Rose Circus Show

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All Rise...

The Charge

The freaks come out at night!

The Case

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages. Come one, come all for
here…they…are: the first and the best, the pioneers of a new kind of
endurance entertainment that relies on presentations from the past reconfigured
for the modern sensibility. Those with sensitive stomachs or squeamish
dispositions should look away now. For arriving on a DVD player near you is the
full on freak show frenzy of The Jim Rose Circus Show. Featuring acts of
unusual accomplishment and rare human oddity, this 90-minute cavalcade of
calamities consists of:

Jim Rose—the Master of Ceremonies. Specializes in pain and escape
stunts like having darts thrown at his back, swallowing and regurgitating razor
blades, and smashing his face into broken bottles.

Matt "the Tube" Crowley—enjoys passing objects through his
nose, like a condom or a seven foot length of stomach pump hose. Also performs
some pain exercises like taping lit firecrackers to his chest and smashing his
fingers with unopened soup cans.

Mr. Lifto—thanks to an elaborate set of piercings in some of the most
unusual places available on the human body, Mr. Lifto…lifts things. Irons.
Concrete blocks. Chains. He even places a hangar through a hole in his tongue
and proceeds to hang his wardrobe on it.

The Torture King—famous for his "human pincushion" routine,
which consists of having dozens of tiny needles with miniature light bulbs
attached to them stuck in his body. He also loves to skewer his arms, throat and
cheeks with long nasty needles.

The Enigma—enjoys onstage meals of crickets, maggots, and worms. He
also swallows swords. Covered from head to toe in an elaborate body tattoo that
resembles thousands of puzzle pieces, this mysterious man is also responsible
for the psychotic circus music that plays throughout the show.

Bebe the Circus Queen—like the Carol Merrill of the carnival, she
gives the acts a helping hand when need be.

Here it is fans and curiosity seekers: It's the original version of the
Jim Rose Sideshow Circus Act, the one that wowed them at Lollapalooza,
turned this Seattle based festival of freaks into an international household
name (kind of), and even inspired Homer's stint as a cannonball target on The
Simpsons. This DVD presentation represents a 1993 sold-out show in
Washington (as well as the shorter, previous VHS incarnation of the performance)
that signaled the freak show renaissance in the performing arts, which has now
culminated in such television shows as Fear Factor, and most famously,
Jackass. In a way, you can see how Jim Rose is the god-geek-father to
such unafraid physical fools as Steve-O and Johnny Knoxville. It's interesting
to look back at this humble beginning to see how a then cottage industry has now
expanded into a familiar multimedia sensation. Rose's current show travels all
over the world, has spawned dozens of imitators, and was even featured recently
in a reality TV show for the Travel Channel entitled The Jim Rose Twisted
Tour. Kind of The Real World mixed with the real weird, The
Twisted Tour follows the performance artist and his troupe as they traverse
America, providing behind the scenes looks at the unusual human specimens and
the trials and tribulations they experience being different in a completely
conformist society. Rose has always been a cult hero champion of the old school
notions of the unusual and unique.

However, it's hard to say if The Jim Rose Circus Show DVD is an
entertaining experience to sit through or just a double dare you survival test.
Some of the material here is shockingly cruel, and there are sequences where the
limits of taste and tolerance are pushed to the very ends. Matt "The
Tube" Crowley provides probably the most wince inducing moment in the
entire show, when he uses a stomach pump to force a forty ounce beer doctored
with ketchup, chocolate, and Pepto Bismol into his belly, only to have Rose
extract it moments later. Bile and all…through a tube in his nose…so
that "samples" can then be served to the audience. The Torture King is
also unnerving in his calm, emotional personal piercing parade. He just seems to
get too much quiet joy out of sticking these incredibly long and nasty looking
needles through his skin. And while it's true that the Enigma with his puzzle
piece body art is intriguing, and Mr. Lifto enchants with the concept of pushing
human fortitude, the show and the video/digital presentation here belongs to the
impresario himself, Jim Rose. Looking like Gary Oldman circa Sid and Nancy and sporting an impish
goatee, Rose has a wide-eyed crazed party animal persona about him, sort of like
a groovy Goth game show host. Part feral wild child, part suave street
performer, he is amazingly articulate and mesmerizing in his carnival barker
spiel (his use of the word "beautiful," spoken in a long, drawn out
breath is very effective) and draws you into his world of physical perversions
with eloquence and humor. He occasionally breaks the spell by slipping into
crass vulgarities and unfortunately, his reliance on the F-word removes the
magic from the moments in the show where he has been most effective. Still he's
immensely entertaining and is part of the reason why his show is so successful.
The Jim Rose Circus Show is definitely a reflection of its namesake.

For the DVD release of this title, Moonshine Films has gone back and located
the original full stage show presentation and has provided that hour and a half
performance as the main entertainment element. Everything is included here, from
ingratiating introductions to chaotic curtain call. Offered in a full screen
direct from video transfer, the usual troubling tape elements are present. There
is some flaring during the more brightly lit moments and an occasional halo or
two. Overall, the image is very good. As is the original thirty-five minute
highlight show that made up the original VHS release. Amusingly, Rose and the
gang participate in some staged bumper material that allows us to see the
performers in a more professionally produced and staged arena. Directors
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, famous for their work in music videos, use a
semi-distracting technique of shooting the show from actual stage level, so that
most of the material we see is oddly framed and occasionally viewed in hard to
decipher extreme close up. But as a souvenir of the theater experience, it is
very good. Bonus material is abundant, starting with a silent movie rehearsal
film set to the same warped calliope carnival sounds as in the show. It's
interesting to see how many of the elements that appear impromptu are actually
staged. There is also an interesting homemade commercial and a few minutes of
bloopers to show that even professional freaks fudge things up every once in a
while.

As a memento of how Jim Rose and his merry band of bizarreness got started,
this DVD is an excellent introduction. But you may find yourself cringing with
disgust more than clapping with delight.